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In February rumors started to fly about Jimmy Fallon becoming the next Late Night host when Conan O'Brien leaves his current spot to take Jay Leno's spot. It's an after-hours game of musical chairs! (Though no one knows where Leno will end up, it is said he'll likely stay in the late night game.) NBC chief Rick Ludwin says that Fallon is now at the top of the short list for possible Late Night hosts.
"Fallon signed a developmental deal with NBC earlier this year, a deal that at the time included the possibility of his replacing O’Brien, who is scheduled to take over Leno’s chair in 2009.Now NBC has zeroed in on the Saturday Night Live alum as its choice for 12:35 a.m., a slot in which SNL chief Lorne Michaels still has a piece of ownership. Those familiar with NBC’s thinking say the network believes that Fallon’s following O’Brien would make a very compatible two-hour block."
With nationwide grumblings about this being heard loud and clear, the network stands by their Fallon. There really isn't much of a better option (seriously, Carson Daly?), and besides, if he's safe in a network studio we're in no danger of a sequel to Taxi being made. On top of Fallon's work at SNL he also strayed from NBC for a moment to guest host for David Letterman in 2003. His old Weekend Update co-host, TIna Fey, recently said of him taking over for Conan: “I think it’s a great idea. He’s really funny and loves to talk to people; it must be that Irish charm. Hosting a talk show is so hard, having to do the comedy and the interview skills, but I actually think he’s really well suited for it.” We're wondering why Fey (or any woman, for that matter) isn't up for the job.
Would you rather see an unfamiliar face during the time slot? You can always vote for Joe! He's already started blogging his future of hosting the show in 2009. Whoever gets picked to sit in the coveted chair at Studio 6A, the announcement has to be made at/prior to next May's upfront presentations. Something else that will be announced by that time is if NBC will move The Tonight Show from Burbank back to New York, where it began. This would of course cause a huge guest war between the 11:35 late night shows! To be continued...
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watch o'brien get lame like leno did because nbc will want him to appeal to the masses of idiots who watch the 11:30 slot. it will be "o'brien-lite"
NO NO NO GOD NO
Why doesn't Jimmy Fallon just take his place amongst all those other SNL has-beens who the American public figured out were not funny unless once they left the show. Jimmy Fallon is not funny. He has never been funny. He should just go away. or to LA.
Craig Ferguson is laughing in delight!
Fallon is the most unfunny of unfunnies. He's so in love with himself that he's painful to watch. Why not get Greg Giraldo? He's very funny, quick on his feet, and vastly cuter.
anyone but drew carey or another conservative B list celeb. dare I say it? drew carey's lex luther bob saget would of been better.
I doubt obrien would be forced to change to appeal to the "idiot-masses" as it is that exact unique humor that has gained him so many viewers in such an unfortunate time slot. Why not have fallon in that time slot? Anyone have better suggestions?
"We're wondering why Fey (or any woman, for that matter) isn't up for the job."
Cause the husband of the last woman to host a late night talk show killed himself!!!!
Lose-lose situation. NBC and Tonight Show advertisers will pressure Conan to tame himself to weak-ass "Paris Hilton LOL" Leno humor, and Jimmy "I'm so funny I can't stop laughing through my joke!" Fallon will drive Late Night to the ground. Maybe it'll be time to give Fergus a chance.
the hipster hate on Fallon is hysterical. yeah, he's not very good. But, he was good for 2 years or so. What has SNL had for the last 15 yrs. that was infinitely more hateable?
I'll give you darrell Hammond who takes the whole "live" aspect out of the show every week b/c they have to break format to give you an impression in the cold open and one in Weekend Update. Then, he doesn't appear in the rest of the show. And, his impresssions are lame Rich Little/Frank Caliendo style impressions. An impression of a guy doing an impression.
How about Jim breuer? Rob Schneider? Melanie Hutsell? Cheri Oteri? Ellen Cleghorne? Siobhan Fallon?
The hate on Jimmy fallon is excessive. because he overplays the "cute"? I'll give that credence. because he breaks up in every bit? Bill Murray did it too (I'm not comparing...)
And, umm....Greg Freakin' Giraldo?! Is Nick DiPaolo busy? How about Greg Behrendt? Oh, these 50 yr. old unfunny pseudo tough guys. Let's just pray Dane Cook can do it.
number ten you forgot to add in colin quinn to that list though he isn't in that tough guy mold.
Nick dipaolo sux, greg giraldo is doing cable commercials. too bad colin had to hang on to these idiots, he was the only guy funny.
How bout getting kooky dave chapelle to do it? have him take his meds and cool it with the black panther stuff.
Other than Fallon? Hmmm, how about that crazy, foul-mouthed blond guy who harasses people on 8th Avenue in Chelsea? He's a lot funnier.
Ze Frank
#10 - The answer to your question is that none of them is up for Conan's spot. That's why they aren't complaining.
I disagree that Fallon was good for 2 years. Nothing he ever did was funny.
Horatio Sans was also worthless. Jim Brewer wasn't funny, but I was fine with him in Half-Baked so I'll give him a pass.
#11 mentions Colin Quinn. He may have been the "funny guy" out of those you mention... but that doesn't mean he was actually funny. He was the Joe Piscopo of our generation.
And finally, back to #10, you talk of Darrell Hammond... I'm sorry, but his work on Celebrity Jeopardy and when he and Farrell did the 2000 Presidential Debates are some of the funniest bits since the turn of the millennium. To compare him to Fallon, who could only get the crickets in the audience to make some noise for him, is a tad unfair.
I'd like to see Andy Richter come back and host, so I can watch him stare into space when he stops listening to the boring celebs that he's supposed to be interviewing.
Those were the best days of the O'Brien show. Who knows, maybe Andy will come back when he takes over for Leno?
Jimmy Fallon is scum
I personally have had run-ins with him around new york city bars
One time we were discussing exposure and how I felt that any reaction from a crowd is worthwhile - negative or positive - for me because I am an unknown.
His response was, "Well as long as you know your place."
Of course the precedent for this is because I was the person who heckled him at his opening gig for the Strokes at Roseland in November 2002.
We cracked so quickly, it was beautiful, plus I wasn't even kicked out of the venue because the bouncer didn't give a crap about him.
The man is scum.
They should bring back Tom Snyder, wait nevermind. How about Dan Aykroyd in character as Tom Snyder then?
Wait, no.
Having SNL alumni host talk shows has proven to be a disaster. Does anyone recall The Chevy Chase Show? Probably not, since anyone who saw it is trying to blot out the memory.
Chevy at least had talent well Fallon has the property of occupying space. Hell, Fletch looks like Citizen Kane compared to Taxi.
How about someone who seems to have some semblance of intelligence and is already in the employ of NBC-Uni, say Keith Olbermann.
I wouldn't wanna see Fallon there either, but this announcement doesn't mean he has the show (or at least I hope it doesn't).
If you remember when Letterman left, NBC signed anyone and everyone who worked for them to non-compete deals. namely Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz...But they alos held semi-open tryouts with comics they liked. I remember they were leaning towards Allan Havey, who lost it when his tryout was seen as homophobic.
They wound up going with Conan who was a fairly unheralded writer at the time. Hopefully, they will look at someone like that. Jon Mullaney? Neal brennan?
uhh i'm going to second guest 13 and say Ze Frank. Though i don't think he'd go for it even if offered.
Jimmy Fallon is not funny.
I guess the picture of his face spliced onto Conan's head kind of is, though.
i heard that chealsea lately lady is up for the job.
it is time to give the Zach Galifianakis show a second chance. on nbc. in that time slot.
or else, the michael showalter showalter.
I'd love to see Galifinakis, though i doubt the network would be too excited.
showalter's a great idea.
Fey's got a prime time sitcom. And ask her if she'd ever, ever want to talk to Paris Hilton again.
I've really warmed to Craig Ferguson. Conan's got great writing, but he's still a painful interviewer. As for Fallon: Isn't Pat Sajak available?
Olbermann would be a great choice.
olbermann wouldn't be a great choice... he's gone from pretty funny to super-gravitas mode all the time.
a good choice? current conan writer brian stack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Stack
Arj Barker would be nice....and Fallon is a dork....Conan is good but he will SUCK once he goes out to L.A....
Bob Saget is God.
Re #27 - Bob Saget?
His turn on the insipid and awful program with several lies in the title - America's Funniest Home Videos - has totally soured me to his presence on a television screen. Not to mention the bit of torture known as Full House, which is infinitely more tolerable than the oxymoronic America's Funniest Home Videos.
Yep, mr. Bob saget,
the funniest man in american and the most unfunniest man in america.
Bob saget is God.
The genius of Conan was that he was a writer himself, not just "the talent." And he has great timing, in a stand-up sort of way.
Conan's improv moments are among his best.
Find someone with a mind like a writer, and timing/delivery like a stand-up act, and there you have it.
Ricky Gervais could do this. If they really wanted to go out on a limb, maybe Adam Samberg.
The whole after-late-night thing (started with Letterman, extended with Conan) is the theater of the bizarre and irreverent that appeals so strongly to younger audiences.
Samberg can do it.
Fallon...meh.
andy samberg is overrated when it comes to live comedy. sure, the digital shorts are funny.. but has he done any memorable characters on actual live TV?
6:20pm here again...
Nick S. (#25) is on target with recommending a writer to replace this one.
By the way, just looking back at how and when Conan came into his role in front of the camera:
In his early days even through now he has maintained this endearing, comical sense of the unwitting amateur the network just stuck in front of the camera one day.
He's always kept the idea that they're all just hacks there, feeling their way through this, making whatever mistakes they do as they go.
But man are they sharp, and what a great approach this has been. You almost feel like you're there with them, fakin' it to make it, wondering when someone at the network will finally wise up and toss everyone out. And when they hit, man is it funny, and they just play it off as success in spite of themselves (taking cues from classic Jack Benny?).
Has been a great, extremely well-calculated "learning experience."
Big shoes for the next "unknown" to fill.
Nick S., good point.
Samberg may be best at writing and canned stuff. For that, he has the necessary off-the-wall mentality.
I've seen him be funny in interviews, but that's hardly the same as being interviewer.
So perhaps he's not ideal, as the stand-up timing and delivery side is just as critical, and he may be unproven as of yet in that department.
Conan was an unknown (to us anyway) writer when Lorne Michaels took a chance on a funny guy back in the day. And here we are.
We can do better then any of the current crop of white 30-40 year old guys. None of them make me laugh. None of them ever made me laugh. Why not a fifty year old chick from the island (long/staten or queens/brookly). I know a few that will blow you all away. That or some of my forty something girlfriends. We laugh for hours on silly stuff that anyone would appreciate. Give us an audience and we will rock!
Wonder how Demetri Martin would do.
http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=60592
How about Jim Gaffigan? He's not so well known that there's a wide group of people who despise him already, ala Fallon, but he seems pretty funny during his repeated appearnances on the show to air his Pale Force clips.
Conan was funny because he was an unknown writer who didn't care about being funny to anyone else but to himself, Andy Richter, and the 15 people in the audience.
We won't see a good replacement for Coney for quite some time. Once in a generation folks.
but that "didn't care" attitude could only last for so long, after a while, it got overplayed. there's just so much "we'll edit this out later" one can take.
NBC takes care of conan pretty well and he's even married now. I will say he is a tall freak though.
Bob saget is Got and he's six feet four.
Dave Hogarty: I agree with Jim Gaffigan, unless he does that third person voice he does in his standup. You know, that high pitched, audience reaction voice. Besides that, I love him. "Death pockets!"
I think Jimmy would be a great host. Once the haters' guns run out of their three magic bullets (he laughed during sketches, he made Taxi, he thinks he's just so darn cute/great/well-dressed), I think they'd see that, for the most part, they were horrible mistaken -- that he's actually funny, talented, and likeable when in the right position. It is at that time that they will also begin to realize they've been neglecting their kids. I do think global warming is all Jimmy's fault, though. Jacob "The Truth" Jenkins.